NY to Atlanta to LA to Atlanta and back to NY

A slam dunk sale right? Um, not so much.

This should have been an easy sales process and super easy commission for a furniture sales person. Seriously. Min and I walked into a Bob’s Furniture store Saturday evening to purchase two theater chairs, a TV stand, and boxspring and mattress for Shane. We knew exactly what we were buying and just needed a salesperson to write up the order. I perused the store and found three saleswomen chatting up a storm and simply walked up and said, “who’d like to sell me some furniture?”. One woman, a more mature big haired frumpily dressed woman chimed in within 5 nano-seconds, “I will!”, much to the chagrin of the other two saleswomen.

Off we went. Judy was her name. Judy had a thick City accent and immediately put her salesperson act on and asked me my name and what I was interested in purchasing. I started with some chit-chat about whether they worked on commission (she affirmed) and I inquired as to whether she thought the other two sales clerks would likely be upset that she chimed in first. Judy didn’t care and proceeded to put down one of the clerks, Eileen, calling her a b-tch. Not very nice, flattering, and certainly not professional to put down another salesperson…especially one working in the same store!! I didn’t care….I just wanted my four pieces of furniture and get the heck out of there.

Two theater chairs please. “What a great choice! I sold four of these the other day! You’re going to love’em, did you know they have a massage feature? They’re so comfortable! You’ll probably want the goof-proof 5 year on this right? Everyone gets it, it’s only $100, just $50 per chair! It’s a great deal, really it is…………………………………….” And on she went. I stopped her in mid-sentence finally. If you could just write it up, we have to get the little ones home.

She wrote up the console and then we moved on to the box spring and mattress, a relatively inexpensive piece, just $199 that Min pointed out. Judy pointed to the $299 one but Min corrected her once again. Ok, on we went to the computer so Judy could get her commission (I mean, so she could type up our order). Bob’s has cookies, candies, coffees and icecream, but because of the late hour they must have taken them away and yet, we’d promised Shaner a cookie. We asked Judy if they had cookies left (thinking she’d go to the back room maybe and check), but she said, “well, there’s a ShopRite next door…..”. Nice customer service. Min took the kiddies next door and then the fun happened. I kid you not…here’s the conversation:

Judy: Ok, how do you spell your name?

Me: F-R-E-D-R-I-C…………………………….she types, “FREDERICK”….I correct her and she types “FREDRICK”…I correct her again…she type in FREDERIC………..at this point, I state “I though sales people are supposed to be good listeners.” I was teasing but she had no remorse and finally gets the spelling right.

Judy: Ok, your last name, is it Richard?

Me: Huh? Um, no, STOCKFIELD.

Judy: Oh, ok. So you wanted that protection right on the theater chairs?

Me: I’ll take it on the one for $50.

Judy: For one it’s $69.99.

Me: You said it was $50 per chair.

Judy: No I said it was $99 for two, but it comes out to $50 per chair.

Me: No take it off.

Judy: But it’s a great deal.

Me: Um, no, it’s not, take it off.

Judy: Everyone gets it.

Me: Can I get a new salesperson please?

Judy calls over a computer clerk walking by to complete my order. Judy finally walks back by and I feel a little bad for snapping a little. I apologize and she states, “I accept your apology”….which simply just ticked me off more, and I state, “…and I accept yours for not listening to me”. She says nothing. I just want to get out of there.

We go to check out….and wouldn’t you know the goof proof warranty is on there….oh and the theater chairs that were ‘in stock’ five minutes prior, are now on back order. Ugh. I finally check out and get the heck out of dodge. Mindy’s in the car and we take off finally. We talk about what a hassle that was, but at least we were happy with the theater chairs and console, and got a decent boxspring and mattress for Shane for just $299.

$299???? What? Judy wrote up the wrong bed! Ugh. U-turn. I go in, cancel the full order, go to Eileen and ask her if she’s in tomorrow. We reordered today through Eileen. How Judy botched that whole order and lost a sale as easy as ours I have zero idea.